Illuminating the Exposome

The leading environmental health hazard is air pollution. While
this and other toxins in food and the environment have proven
especially threatening in the first 1,000 days of life, little is
known about the cumulative, life-course effects on physical and
mental health. To illuminate the “exposome” – the
totality of cultural, nutritional, and environmental exposures
– we investigate intersections between biomarkers and
geo-markers, daily routines and family histories, prenatal care and
life-long habits.

What is Special About Early Life?

Children are very vulnerable during their first 1,000 days of
life. In the womb, embryonic or fetal tissue is highly
sensitive and organs are developing. After birth, a young child
goes through rapid growth and development with changes in organ
system functioning, metabolic capacities, physical size, and
immature defense systems. It is during this time period that they
are particularly vulnerable to environmental exposure.

What is the Exposome?

The exposome is the sum exposure, the totality of environmental
exposures from conception onwards. The exposome includes exposure
to air pollution, water pollution, metal pollution, the social
environment, life style factors, and others. The totality of these
exposures at a young age can affect fetus growth, birth outcomes,
child development and child health.

For example, 3 billion people use solid fuels everyday, exposing
women and young children to high levels of indoor air
pollution. The World Health
Organization estimates that people most likely to breathe
poor-quality air live in low- and middle-income countries, where
they may also experience hunger, malnutrition, infectious disease,
conflict, and natural disasters. In many of these areas, the
problem of air pollution is intractable, even as consequences for
young children and other vulnerable groups are acknowledged.

Poor air quality has
detrimental effects on fetal and postnatal growth and development.
Despite decades of efforts to improve air quality, pregnant women
and young children around the world still breathe polluted air,
initiating lifelong health problems and causing early death. For
many, inadequate air quality is inescapable, with exposure
occurring consistently during everyday indoor and outdoor
tasks.

Risk factors for environmental enteropathy among children in Bangladesh

Our Working Solutions

Air pollution is now the world’s largest single
environmental health risk. WHO reports that air pollution exposure
caused deaths of 7 million people 2012, or one in eight of total
global deaths. Deaths among pregnant women, children and
adolescents account for more than one third of the global burden of
premature mortality. Children in developing countries are eight
times more likely to die before they reach the age of five. Air
pollution exposure causes health impacts that significantly differ
across different population groups, among which pregnant women and
infant might be the most vulnerable population.

For people residing in or from South Asia, lung function is
lowest compared to all other geographic regions of the globe. While
the commonly accepted explanation for this health disparity is
often attributed to genetics, there are several understudied
determinants of lung health such as environmental and occupational
exposures. Our scoping review is intended to explore respiratory
health in this region to further understand this disparity.

Childhood exposure to metal neurotoxins can result in
irreversible neuropsychological impairments. Metal exposures have
declined in the general U.S. population and significant progress
has been made in the reduction of certain metals in the environment
through effective intervention strategies. However, this problem is
far from solved.